Uploaded August 2023 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Some more results of using this curious break-out tactic around the game.
0:00 - trying to break-out of radio use. You can't use the query while the radio menu is on the screen, so you have to start the break-out shortly before it appears. The ensuing white-out will block the screen, but the radio menu will still be usable underneath it. After quick travel, York's radio animation resets, but this doesn't do much beyond looking slightly odd.
(Not on the vid: entering dungeon while quick travelling works surprisingly normally. The quick travel has a two-part loading screen - the first part is uncancellable, but once the second part begins, another loading screen kicks in and takes York to the dungeon as usual.)
0:34 - breaking out at the top of a ladder climb. Since dungeon break-out resets this kind of animations instead of cancelling them, York will keep on climbing past the top point of the ladder higher than intended, but he will instantly return back to floor level once the animation is over.
(Not on the vid: dungeon break-out of the animation at the bottom of the ladder didn't seem to cause any strange results.)
0:52 - breaking out of box pushing. The box pushing animation resets, and to me it seems you can use this to push a box slightly further than would normally be possible before it breaks. You can also use this to mis-align boxes for some new OoB setups, although that stuff seems pretty quaint now that we have binoculars break-out...
1:20 - just out of curiosity, I tried breaking out of the midnight cutscene. This creates a somewhat unique effect as York will do his usual dungeon query head shake inside the midnight cutscene instead of breaking out. Perhaps the midnight cutscene is code-wise very similar to the dungeon query cutscene?
1:52 - dungeon break-out + grab. Looking back, it seems the subtitles are wrong here - this clip is breaking out as York escapes the grab, not when York is getting grabbed. Sorry about that.
Anyway, the animation where York recovers from the grab attempt never resolves properly, leaving the high-contrast screen effect active. You also lose control of York and also can't open the menu. Enemies will keep approaching York, trying to grab him, but those grabs can't make contact either.
2:33 - on another attempt, I did this near 5:59 to see what would happen when dawn breaks. It seems that this fixes everything and gives you back control over York again.
2:57 - dungeon break-out in the middle of a grab. This result is the same as with the Sigourney break-out: York's animation changes back to neutral, but he is still getting grabbed. You lose control of him and the grab is now inescapable, meaning that game over is inevitable.
(Not on the vid: dungeon break-out at the very start of the grab seemed to have the same effect, with the grab becoming inescapable.)
3:43 - I tried entering a dungeon at the moment of a game over. However, nothing happens after the white-out and you instead get a normal game over. It seems new loading screens can't activate if York has received fatal damage and/or game over sequence is playing?
4:08 - I tried taking the dungeon break-out query into the game over-screen just to see if you could cause glitches there. However, this query (and all other similar queries) disappears when York takes fatal damage from an enemy.
4:24 - falling out of bounds gets you a bit further, since this way the query stays on the screen even past the point of getting a game over. However, you lose control of it at the moment of York's death, so this serves no purpose. The query finally disappears whether you choose to continue or quit.
Some more results of using this curious break-out tactic around the game.
0:00 - trying to break-out of radio use. You can't use the query while the radio menu is on the screen, so you have to start the break-out shortly before it appears. The ensuing white-out will block the screen, but the radio menu will still be usable underneath it. After quick travel, York's radio animation resets, but this doesn't do much beyond looking slightly odd.
(Not on the vid: entering dungeon while quick travelling works surprisingly normally. The quick travel has a two-part loading screen - the first part is uncancellable, but once the second part begins, another loading screen kicks in and takes York to the dungeon as usual.)
0:34 - breaking out at the top of a ladder climb. Since dungeon break-out resets this kind of animations instead of cancelling them, York will keep on climbing past the top point of the ladder higher than intended, but he will instantly return back to floor level once the animation is over.
(Not on the vid: dungeon break-out of the animation at the bottom of the ladder didn't seem to cause any strange results.)
0:52 - breaking out of box pushing. The box pushing animation resets, and to me it seems you can use this to push a box slightly further than would normally be possible before it breaks. You can also use this to mis-align boxes for some new OoB setups, although that stuff seems pretty quaint now that we have binoculars break-out...
1:20 - just out of curiosity, I tried breaking out of the midnight cutscene. This creates a somewhat unique effect as York will do his usual dungeon query head shake inside the midnight cutscene instead of breaking out. Perhaps the midnight cutscene is code-wise very similar to the dungeon query cutscene?
1:52 - dungeon break-out + grab. Looking back, it seems the subtitles are wrong here - this clip is breaking out as York escapes the grab, not when York is getting grabbed. Sorry about that.
Anyway, the animation where York recovers from the grab attempt never resolves properly, leaving the high-contrast screen effect active. You also lose control of York and also can't open the menu. Enemies will keep approaching York, trying to grab him, but those grabs can't make contact either.
2:33 - on another attempt, I did this near 5:59 to see what would happen when dawn breaks. It seems that this fixes everything and gives you back control over York again.
2:57 - dungeon break-out in the middle of a grab. This result is the same as with the Sigourney break-out: York's animation changes back to neutral, but he is still getting grabbed. You lose control of him and the grab is now inescapable, meaning that game over is inevitable.
(Not on the vid: dungeon break-out at the very start of the grab seemed to have the same effect, with the grab becoming inescapable.)
3:43 - I tried entering a dungeon at the moment of a game over. However, nothing happens after the white-out and you instead get a normal game over. It seems new loading screens can't activate if York has received fatal damage and/or game over sequence is playing?
4:08 - I tried taking the dungeon break-out query into the game over-screen just to see if you could cause glitches there. However, this query (and all other similar queries) disappears when York takes fatal damage from an enemy.
4:24 - falling out of bounds gets you a bit further, since this way the query stays on the screen even past the point of getting a game over. However, you lose control of it at the moment of York's death, so this serves no purpose. The query finally disappears whether you choose to continue or quit.
